And beneficial it was. The S&P 500 rose 0.7% to 25574.73--a record close--while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 205.60 points, or 0.8%, to 25,574.73. The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.8% to 7211.78.

That's a lot of optimism to built into the market, especially with earnings season beginning in earnest tomorrow. Releases from JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC) and BlackRock (BLK) are scheduled for before the market opens for trading, and all three have outperformed the S&P 500 by mid-single-digits during the past three months. That's a sign that investors might be expecting lots of good news.

And don't forget that December's consumer price index is scheduled to be released tomorrow morning, and any upside surprises there could cause some, well consternation. And that's a possibility despite today's disappointing PPI. The reason: The markets aren't expecting much at all. The CPI is expected to rise 0.1% in December from November, and that could make an upside surprise that much easier to occur, say BMO Capital Markets' Aaron Kohli and Ian Lyngen. "One risk for us is that the bar for CPI has been lowered enough [that] even a 0.2% MoM print might trigger an outsized market reaction," they explain.

Stocks are falling this morning as Facebook drags down the Nasdaq. Newell brands gets a lift from Carl Icahn's success, while reports Apple will build its own screens takes down shares of screen makers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished up 72 points today, and the S&P 500 broke its four-day losing streak but some strategists contend it's time to get defensive. We also look ahead to Nike's earnings, and consider whether electric vehicles will help spur the next commodity boom.

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